The Governing Body Is Not Dogmatic!

In a recent morning worship program titled “Jehovah Blesses Obedience”, Brother Anthony Morris III addresses accusations made against the Governing Body that it is dogmatic. Quoting from Acts 16:4, he refers us to the word translated “decrees”. He states at the 3:25 minute mark:

“Now let’s bring it up to modern day here and, you’ll find this quite interesting – I did, I assume you might find it of interest – but here in verse 4, if you look at the original language about “decrees,” I notice the Greek there, the word “dogmata”, well, you can hear the word “dogma” there. Well, things have changed as to what it means in English now. It’s certainly not anything we want to say the faithful slave is guilty of. Notice here what dictionaries have had to say. If you refer to a belief or a system of beliefs as a dogma, you disapprove of it because people are expected to accept that it is true without questioning it. A dogmatic view obviously is undesirable. One other dictionary says, if you say someone is dogmatic you are critical of them because they are convinced that they are right and refuse to consider that other opinions might also be justified. Well, I don’t think we would want to apply this to decisions that come out from the faithful and discreet slave in our time.”

So according to Brother Morris, the Governing Body does not expect us to accept their teachings without question. According to Brother Morris, the Governing Body is not convinced it is right. According to Brother Morris, the Governing Body does not refuse to consider other opinions that might also be justified.

He then continues:

“Now we have apostates and opposers that would like God’s people to think that the faithful slave is dogmatic. And they expect you to accept everything that comes out from headquarters as if it’s dogma. Arbitrarily decided. Well, this does not apply.”

So according to Brother Morris, we should not accept everything that comes out from headquarters as if it is dogma; that is, as if it is a decree from God.

That statement seems to be in direct contradiction to his closing words:

“This is a theocracy ruled by God. Not a collection of man-made decisions. This is governed from heaven.”

If we are being “ruled by God” and “governed from heaven”, and if these are not a “collection of man-made decisions,” then we must conclude that these are divine decisions. If they are divine decisions, then they come from God. If they come from God, then we cannot and should not question them. They are indeed dogma; albeit righteous dogma in that they are of divine origin.

What would be the litmus test? Well, Brother Morris points to the decrees that came out of Jerusalem in the first century and applies them to our day. In the first century, Luke reports: “Then, indeed, the congregations continued to be made firm in the faith and to increase in number day by day.” (Acts 16:5) The point that Anthony Morris III is making is that if we obey these instructions which he claims are from Jehovah, then we too will see a similar increase in the congregations day by day. He says “congregations will increase, branch territories will increase day by day. Why? Because as we mentioned in the beginning, ‘Jehovah blesses obedience.'”

If you would take the time to scan the latest Yearbooks and look at the population-to-publisher ratio figures, you’d see that even in countries where we seem to be growing marginally, we are really stagnant or even shrinking.

Six years of stagnation or worse, of diminishment! Hardly the picture he is painting. But it’s worse. Looking at just raw figures in the 2015 Yearbook, there are 63 countries out of 239 that have either no growth listed or show negative growth. Many more that do show some growth are not keeping up with population growth figures.

So based on Brother Morris’ own criteria, we are either failing to obey the Governing Body, or we are obeying them, yet Jehovah is failing to bless us with daily expansion.

In July, Brother Lett told us that the Governing Body never has and never will solicit funds, after which he proceeded to solicit funds for the remainder of his broadcast. Now Brother Morris tells us that the decrees of the Governing Body are not dogma, while claiming that their decisions are not man-made but from God.

Elijah once told the people: “How long will you be limping upon two different opinions?” Perhaps it is time for each of us to consider that question for ourselves.

Interesting quote from watchtower , I must of been blind as a bat not to see it”.the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless or how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible…the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind” (Watchtower, October 1, 1997, p. 587).

Meleti, You are correct we won’t be able to make head way if we don’t address first our underlying assumptions and different interpretive paradigms on how we determine the meaning and interpretation of Scripture. Our respective approaches to Scripture are ultimately very different and they lie in our understanding of Ecclesiology. Not to make assertions but I believe the biblical, historical and philosophical evidence points us to a divine teaching authority in the Christian congregation appointed by God. From my perspective I have come to understand that is naive to think that all interpretive disagreements could be resolved through a… Read more »

Hi Philip, If every appeal to Scripture is “merely” an appeal to an interpretation of Scripture, then what we are really confronted with is an appeal to authority, or more succinctly, the acceptance of argumentum ad verecundiam as a matter of faith. Of course, this ought to raise an intellectual alarm as it is a well-known informal fallacy and should not be admitted as evidence – neither in relation to the Scriptures, nor any other matter. Nevertheless, an even bigger problem is implied in that if all appeals to Scripture really do amount to appeals to interpretative authority, then it… Read more »

It occurred to me that those who would accept both the Scriptures and an interpretive authority are attempting to serve two masters. (Mt 6:24) Eventually they side with one and hate the other. So many of my brothers have sided with the Governing Body in disregard for the weightier law of God.

I disagree. Vox Ratio’s Content might be excellent but I don’t know because of the ‘way it is said’. If you have to ref to a dictionary every time you read a post some will stop reading them. So, not well put Vox, not well put.
IE,
argumentum ad verecundiam
inconsistent dyad
ecclesiastical magisterium

First of all, it’s “Meleti” not “Malati”. Perhaps in the good old days before computers you’d have a point, but not now. If someone is reading a comment and there is a word or phrase they don’t understand, all they need do is copy and paste it into google.com and within seconds they’ve enriched their vocabulary. Yes, there are times and places when it is required for us to “dumb down” our vocabulary, but I don’t see that applying here. Our purpose is to edify and enrich. True, it may require a little effort on our part, but the reward… Read more »

Thanks for the links, Philip. They’re extensive, so it will take me some time to go through, but after a cursory look, it would appear we are on the same page. We did a four-part series on this subject a couple of years ago. You can view it using this link: http://meletivivlon.com/?s=identifying+the+faithful+slave

I think that if someone tries to teach us a doctrine from the Bible we need to see if there is any agenda behind it. For example, if you read Jere 25:12 it is plain that the 70 years for Babylon were finished before the king of Babylon was called to account. Simple maths require the start of the 70 years to be prior to this date. Any normal person would read this and move on. Big deal. But if I’m now going to do a big extrapolated theory using extra-biblical sources like Ptolemy and go outside of the Bible… Read more »

I think what can help us in our understanding of the Bible is to avail ourselves of different translations. We know there is no such thing as a perfect translation, and there are many ways of conveying the same words/statements. Also to keep in mind is the fact that the Bible is a Hebrew book, and some small knowledge of Hebrew culture is helpful of course. The important thing to remember is why Jesus came to the earth, Mark 1:14-15 “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’… Read more »

A cautionary tale about Tony Morris and eisegesis. From “Bible Study Methodology” on the Beroean Pickets web site: “This word [eisegesis] describes the method of study where we read into a Bible verse that which we want to see.” Let us agree that to read into anything something that we merely WANT to see, when the facts don’t support it, is a bad idea. As John Sheridan noted in the TV show Babylon 5, “The Vorlons have a saying: Understanding is three-edged sword. There’s your side, there’s my side, and there’s the truth.” Somehow, we need to avoid the two… Read more »

If there’s any eisegesis in this article, personally I don’t see it. As Meleti says, the title is ironic, so perhaps it should read “the GB IS dogmatic,” (without the irony) which is exactly the point you make – that they are not denying they are dogmatic (although I’m sure they would if you charged them with it) but just don’t want to be labelled dogmatic by opposers (which kind of amounts to the same thing anyway.) in other words, they reserve the right to be dogmatic but not to be held accountable for it. So the irony in the… Read more »

Yes, I do, after a fashion; but that is only after being mislead myself for a few days and having time to reconsider the matter. However, based on the many replies below, it does not appear that such understanding was shared by most of your readers. Rather, they seem to have viewed the title as though it’s something Tony Morris was asserting, and then they all responded according to that assumption and not based on what he said, but mostly on the title alone of your article. It caused everyone to read into your article something that Mr. Morris didn’t… Read more »

There was no condescension intended, whether that be an overtone, undertone or otherwise. As I noted, I too drew the wrong conclusion at first, so if any condescension is merited, I would have to apply it to myself as well. That’s why I started off my remarks with “A cautionary tale about Tony Morris and eisegesis.” This is not an attack on you or anyone else; it is a caution. Just as the title of this Beroean Pickets article could lead one into a wrong conclusion, Tony Morris’s remarks could lead us into a wrong conclusion about the GB. The… Read more »

>> “it’s more important to understand that fact and make it known than to bicker about whether the GB is or is not dogmatic” By way of example, this carries the implication that bickering is taking place. I don’t believe you meant that, and there is no evidence of it, so perhaps it was merely a poor choice of words. Please understand that I agree with the key points you are making. I’m only saying that the truth is more palatable when seasoned with salt. (Col 4:6) Also, as you could see from the comment link I provided, we were… Read more »

“I’m only saying that the truth is more palatable when seasoned with salt.”

Exactly . . . so while it might be true that the governing body is dogmatic, it should never be stated outright that they are. We need to describe their firmly held convictions and expectations of obedience, with more euphemistic language – “seasoned with salt”. ;p

Correct; I was not in any way attempting to characterize this exchange as bickering, a thing I dislike. None of my remarks were really intended to be personally directed to you, Meleti, except to the extent that you did in fact write the article in question that we have been discussing. An expression I read somewhere recently put it like this: “The important thing is not WHO is right, but WHAT is right.” We will all grow old and die, sooner or later (in my case, sooner. But, there is at least a possibility that our words might survive us.… Read more »

This broadcast sounds more like a Jedi mind trick, with Anthony Morris standing in front of us waving his hands while saying “I’m not here, you can’t see me.” Well if you’re not there Anthony, stop waving you hands!

Hello Meleti and Everyone, I hear your concerns and where you are coming from and it’s hard to give my opinion in this matter because I don’t think I’m able to express all the sensitivities without sounding confrontational. Brother Hayden C. Covington once said “ we have always striven to see that we have the truth before we utter it. We go on the very best information we have but we cannot wait until we get perfect, because if we wait until we get perfect we would never be able to speak.” If you believe Jehovah has appointed a teaching… Read more »

I could live with the fact that men are imperfect and can make imperfect decisions etc etc However we now have a considerable body of information and evidence to demonstrate that there has been contrivance and a very deliberate attempts to mislead, lie, obfuscate and prevaricate around matters of “essential” doctrine. Furthermore, recognizing that you are prone to error [and with the internet we can quantify and qualify the “errors” over the years], don’t be dogmatic. And don’t coerce and force the membership to accept things as Truth knowing full well that this could change in the near future. Don’t… Read more »

Hi Africaine, you asked (open): Is this movement – I am in my 6th decade in the WTS – THE approved channel of God on earth today? The answer would be NO, not just because it is the WTS but no organisation at all can claim this as the NT scriptures simply do not support the idea of one organisation having as the only organisation the approval of God and as such is above all others. The bible shows that when there was still a Jewish nation, they, as a whole, could be blessed due to the good actions of… Read more »

Hi Philip, Your reasoning seems both balanced and sound. The question is, does it reflect the reality of the situation? Let us use the example you give of a doctor. We go to the doctor because we want his professional advice. We trust that he knows what he’s talking about because he is after all the professional, a man who has spent years being trained in the field of medicine. However, we may choose not to follow his advice. We may even feel he is wrong about something. Upon learning how we feel, would the doctor stop talking with us… Read more »

But wasn’t the FDS appointed in 1914 and they are part of this overlapping generation Meleti? Isn’t that proof? 😉 I have this strange feeling of going around in circles. Maybe that’s why it’s called circular reasoning ha ha

You noted, “To date, no one has been able to provide scriptural proof to support the allegation that Jehovah God has appointed these seven men – or any group of men, for that matter – as his sole channel of divine communication to Christians today.” There actually is proof of a sort, though not the kind you’d prefer. Consider Romans 6:16: “Do you not know that if you keep presenting yourselves to anyone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of him because you obey him, either of sin with death in view or of obedience with righteousness in… Read more »

Thanks again Meleti; excellent commentary. This broadcast is another example of how much of a miscalculation it was when these GB is all of its divine wisdom decided to put these guys in front of a camera.

Hello Meleti and Everyone, With all the respect I wonder if perhaps you are misunderstanding what Brother Morris is trying to say. I think that you have to look at his comments and these matters from an inside point of view. The morning worship comment is an in-house discussion. If you don’t believe the Governing Body is the divinely authorized teaching authority appointed by Jehovah and assisted by the holy spirit then I can see why you may have an answer-book view of the Governing body as if every formal teaching is equally central and lays the same claim on… Read more »

Philip, I see what you are saying in it might well be the case but at the same time, it not uncommon for the WT to use double-speak, meaning for example that on the one hand they say something is green but explain it assuming that it is blue. Or more practical, they claim there are two groups of Christians but at the same time all Christians carry the same obligations. However, if Morris meant what you indicate, it is a terrible thing for the Father as over the last 100 years, they have revised over 100 doctrines / views… Read more »

The fact that it was publicized on JW Broadcasting no longer makes it an “in house discussion”, much like the sisters talks in the Theocratic School, she may be counseling another sister but the lesson was meant for all in the audience. I believe A. Morris got his point across.

Actually, Philip, I think I was misunderstanding what he was trying to say. Apollos pointed this out to me as well. The subtlety of his words eluded us both at first, but Apollos was bugged by the sentence: “Well, this does not apply.” I took that to mean he was saying that the Governing Body does not expect us to accept its teachings without question and that it does consider the opinions of others. Then Apollos got it. What Morris III is saying is that an accusation of dogmatism does not apply to the Governing Body because these are not… Read more »

But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. For he says: “By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers. My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or… Read more »

Per Mr. Morris: “A dogmatic view obviously is undesirable. One other dictionary says, if you say someone is dogmatic you are critical of them because they are convinced that they are right and refuse to consider that other opinions might also be justified. Well, I don’t think we would want to apply this to decisions that come out from the faithful and discreet slave in our time.” Per letter from WBTS of September 1, 1980 TO ALL CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT OVERSEERS (page 2) [fetched from JWLeaks]: “Keep in mind that to be disfellowshipped, an apostate does not have to be… Read more »

“He (false prophet) was granted power (Rev.9:1) to give breath (John 20:22) to the image of the beast (2Thess.2:4), that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast (Rom.1:23,25), to be killed.” (Rev.13:15)

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality…. But I have this AGAINST YOU, that YOU TOLERATE the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she TEACHES and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Rev.2:14,20) “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and… Read more »

Dont know , what is he saying here that the brothers are ok to question the teaching of the governing body is this a ploy to flush those out who disagree with them , ? Just let them have thier way if thats what they want ! Is this theocratic warfare again

New Living Translation
Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine. They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.

And, of course, we shouldn’t be distracted by the literal wording of Isaiah 28:7. These priests and prophets were “drunk” in the same sense that a drunk driver of today, pulled over by the police, is unable to walk a straight line. The priests and prophets could not ‘walk a straight line’ in obedience to the Law, but deviated in one direction after another. In the case of the GB, their deviations are called “new light” and “refinements”, but such innocent-sounding terms cannot whitewash over their failure to uphold God’s word and the true example of Christ.

“Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.” (2Tim.3:8-9)

Your good Meleti, appreciate your time and analysis of this point. Finding it everymore difficult to take these brothers seriously, my problem is, that I want to give them the benefit of doubt, but by putting themselves in the limelight, There theme songs are increasingly sounding like lyrics to songs of Frank Sinatra’s song ‘I DID IT MY WAY’
…. ‘THE END is NEAR’ …. ‘ The FINAL CURTAIN ‘ …,, ‘I DID it MY WAY’ …as they head off to their new headquarters

I definitely agree about the songs, my non-JW hubby went with me to the convention and said “music sounds like my Interstellar soundtrack” and then the song of “preaching the good news” on one of the videos sounded like the sunday morning mass chorus….. it disturb me when Anthony Morris says : “This is a theocracy ruled by God. Not a collection of man-made decisions. This is governed from heaven.” …. How did they receive the direction from Heaven? Did an angel came to minister to them?, they don’t answer for certain how do you know ‘it is govern by… Read more »

Thanks Meleti. Always wonder where you get the time from to read/view, interpret, analyse and publish. It is funny he keeps saying The Faithful and Discreet Slave….isn’t that dogmatic in itself? Like said by others here, why do they bother in the first place? Why do they feel they need to justify themselves, defend themselves against so-called apostates and opponents? Are they not convinced they have the blessing of the Father or of their big brother (as sometimes this is used to refer to Jesus)? Could it be they are feeling the pressure from governments / regulators on their policies… Read more »

No my friend, I am also a nice person, well I hope so. But I always go up to people and tell them I am super nice, and say you better believe it or else…..and then I say don’t you agree with me. You better I say to them. It goes over really well. I think. 🙂

I mentioned this a few months ago on the old site, I feel the Governing Body is up to something big I don’t know why but it feels they know people ain’t buying what they are Trying to Sell all the rank and file, I say all cause you know there are many that say these Guardian’s of Doctrines (aka Governing Body)are speaking for the Big Man upstairs…… But onto this video and its comic gold. 1.it is interesting he mentions Acts 6:1-4 and if you think about this was the same scripture that Mr GB member Jackson had brought… Read more »

Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system’s paradigm, or the ideology itself.
607/1914 is dogma and a house of cards, a teaching inherited from Nelson Barbour and William Miller. Remove that one card and the rest fall over. And you can be disfellowshipped for disbelief. Sounds like we have been dogmatic to me.

I don’t know what in the world is going on with these guys, but things are so different these days. They seem so haughty as well as desparate to hold their positions. I agree with Deborah. They need to get their faces out of the spotlight and do something productive. Like, maybe become humble like a child. Or perhaps glorify God and Christ. Can’t people see the attitudes? Jehovah=GB, Jesus=GB, Kingdom=GB. I am so sick of these people. I can swear everyone knows the names of GB but not all 12 apostles!

Thanks for the morning worship discussion highlight. I stopped watching jw.org internet broadcasts some months ago. I found that I was beginning to loathe the site of many of the GB. Realizing that this was not benefiting me spiritually in my endeavors of building the ‘Holy Temple’ of my worship to my Father. I found it best to spend my time reading God’s Holy Word. However I do sense that some of these men must be wringing their hands with despair in what they must realize is a Monster that they have helped to create. Do they dismantle all the… Read more »